


Old Man

by TheVillain



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Aging, Blind Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Marriage, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 12:51:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14105772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheVillain/pseuds/TheVillain
Summary: Jack and Gabe are reunited and on the run from Talon. Jack is aging but Gabriel won't let Jack slip away from him again.





	Old Man

**Author's Note:**

> *Inspired by the fic "These Old Bones" by mushembra.

“Yeah, and that was when- when,” Jack’s voice stuttered as he stopped abruptly and gasped for air, coughing. He and Gabriel were laying in post-coital bliss just shooting the shit with each other, recalling old times. While Gabe didn’t age too much because of his wraith ‘situation’, Jack was slowly but steadily losing himself over time despite the SEP. The effects in the long-term was only speculation and now Jack was evidence that his body was failing him as years went by.

“Shit, Jack!” Gabe swore, reaching over and grabbing the ventilator he kept near the visor and the other couple of pieces to hold it in place, snapping it all together and pressing it against Jack’s face.

Instantly, the burst of new air circulated through Jack’s lungs and his wheezing declined to the occasional cough.

“Fuck, Jackie. I told you to take it easy. We just had sex, you can’t be crackin’ jokes and laughing so hard when you know your damn lungs can’t take it.”

“I’m fine, Gabe. I can take it.” Jack protested, his breathing slowing down to a normal force and rhythm again.

“Like hell, you ‘can take it’. For once can you drop the god damn ego and listen to me?” Gabe argued, honestly getting sick of Jack’s bullshit. They had been on the run from Talon, Talon hunting them both down like dogs and wanting to see Gabriel, especially, suffer for his defection.

“I’m not dead! I can function, I can hold my own. I don’t need you coddling me all the time!” Jack growled, taking his ventilator off and putting it in front of him. He didn’t want to feel around to find his visor so he knows where to put the ventilator back. He couldn’t let Gabe be right.

Gabriel huffed, snatching the ventilator and putting it in its original place.

“You’re fucking blind, Jackie. You can hardly breathe sometimes. Why won’t you just let me help you?” Gabe pushed.

“I have the visor and I can breathe fine on my own if I don’t run too much.”

Gabriel let out a humorless and curt laugh.

“Still can’t swallow your pride for a god damn second, can you, Jackie? Still won’t listen to me. That much hasn’t changed.”

Jack’s sightless eyes narrowed and he turned better to where he thought Gabriel’s eyes would be.

“Oh right, cause you’re one to talk. You’re _still_ fucking jealous that I got the promotion and don’t lie!”

“Of course you need to bring that up. That was ages ago!” Gabe yelled back. His temper was starting to flair.

“It was and you’re still mad at me for it when it wasn’t even my decision! So don’t go fucking scolding me like a child for being petty when you’re still holding a grudge against me about something that wasn’t in my control! Our marriage nearly broke because of-”

If Jack could only see the smoldering black smoke engulfing his husband, the rage boiling inside Gabriel. That much was true. Gabriel’s jealousy put them on the brink of divorce. They were holding on by a thread. Jack’s comment about it was like putting a dagger right in Gabe’s monster of a heart.

“Fuck you, Jack fucking Morrison! You want to do this on your own? Fine!” Gabriel roared and then vanished in plume of smoke.

Jack knew he was alone, he could sense it right away. He also regretted his words the second they came out of his mouth, but it was far too late. It wasn’t Gabriel’s jealousy alone that hurt their marriage but Jack’s inability to see reason and to know what was truly going on with his husband. At the time, the new position ate up all of Jack’s time and energy and he put his marriage on the back burner. He _let_ it happen. He let his husband slip right through his fingers.

Jack swallowed hard and slid out of bed. His left knee was always in a constant dull pain. Arthritis, he assumed. But never mind his damned knee. His heart was aching inside his chest. He had to find Gabriel.

Groaning softly as he maneuvered his legs into the closest boxers, he knew he needed to find his visor. Jack felt around but couldn’t feel it. It must have fell somewhere during Gabriel’s outburst.

“Where the fuck is it..” Jack grumbled to himself, feeling around some more and feeling like an idiot even though he was the only one there.

Gabriel, on the other hand, was out of that awful motel, but he was close by. His anger was consuming him and he had to get out of there but he couldn’t stray too far in case Jack needed him. He saw his husband breaking down little by little and he knew that someday his Jackie would leave him for good. To wander the Earth alone, feeding on souls to try and fill the void in his heart but never succeeding. Gabriel’s eyes stung and on the exhale of a deep breath, he heard it.

Gun shots.

On high alert, Gabe ran and shadow stepped as fast as he could back to the motel. Jack was as vulnerable as he could possibly be. He wasn’t going to lose him now. Not if he could fucking help it.

He got there in record breaking time, shotguns blazing at any opposition. He funneled his rage, his fear, his guilt- everything, on all the Talon agents he came across on his way to their room.

“Can’t believe you’re this elusive ‘Soldier: 76.’ You’re nothing but a blind old dog. But we’ll put you out of your misery.”

Dark smoke burst in both through and under the door as Gabriel materialized, making his mark right in the asshole’s head. His henchmen fell lifeless beside him as bullet’s from Gabe’s shotguns emptied into them.

“Jackie? Oh fuck, are you alright? I’m gonna take your arm and get you back on the bed.” Gabe said, doing just that. His touch was gentle despite the acts of mass murder he’d committed just seconds prior. Gabriel’s presence, his touch, it broke Jack and he no longer held back the hot tears.

“It’s alright, I’m here.” Gabe soothed, pulling him into a hug.

“I’m so sorry, Gabriel. You’re right. I can’t do this alone.” Jack admitted into the dark fabric of his husband’s cloak.

“I’m not trying to boss you around and I swear this isn’t some passive aggressive anger over your promotion.” Gabe said quietly. He could feel Jack nodding against him.

“I know. I fucking know. You were trying to tell me and I didn’t listen. I never did.. but I promise, Gabe, I’ll try harder.”

The tears kept coming but it was cleansing for Jack’s soul to let go.

“And I’m not here because you need me to be. I’m here because I _want_ to be. I’m here because I love you, Jack.”

“It- It just fucking kills me, Gabe. I’m breaking down and I can’t stand it..being so helpless. I don’t wanna hold you back.”

“You know what would hold me back? Being without you. We take care of each other, that’s what husband’s do, right, Jack? Please, let me in, mi luna.”

“Alright..alright, Gabriel.”

“Because now that we’re together again-” Gabe continued, something that Jack didn’t expect. “I can’t lose you. I cannot lose you, you hear me?” There was a slight waver to his voice.

They embraced tightly, Jack going in for a kiss and Gabriel making sure he was on his mark.

“I love you more than life, Gabe, but as much as I’d like to make love with you right now, we gotta get moving.”

Gabe handed Jack his visor.

“Let’s go, old man.”


End file.
